A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to networking and, more particularly, to a high-speed line interface for networking devices.
B. Description of Related Art
A data communications network may be formed by interconnecting networking devices, such as routers and switches, through communication links. To accommodate links of different types and speeds, many networking devices include slots in which line interface cards may be inserted. Each line interface card converts signals from a respective link to packets that are routed or switched by the networking device and vice-versa. The line interface card may also perform some preprocessing on the packets before they are routed/switched. The nature of the different types of communication links is such that, in many cases, a separate line interface card may need to be specially designed for each different type of link.
Problems arise, however, with line interface cards used with high-speed communication links. Such links may provide data at a faster rate than line interface cards can process or handle. This may result in a substantial reduction in data throughput or, worse yet, data loss. Even if the line interface cards are able to process the data at the rate it is being received, appropriate switching/forwarding modules need to be available to receive packets from these line interface cards. These problems become more significant as data communication links are becoming increasingly fast and the number of links connected to networking devices is increasing.
Therefore, there is a need for a high-speed line interface for networking devices.